Amoeba Music exposes famous artists’ tastes with ‘What’s In My Bag?’ For 10 seasons, the Berkeley-born record store chain Amoeba Music has been exploring the myriad muses of famous patrons with the web series “What’s In My Bag?” Here’s how it works: a musician, actor, comedian or other celebrity comes into one of Amoeba Music’s three California locations (Berkeley, San Francisco or Hollywood) and sifts through the store’s gigantic inventory of music, films, TV shows, memorabilia and, sometimes, food. Then they reveal their selections (paid for with an Amoeba gift certificate, though some artists dip into their own pockets to get more stuff) and their reasons for choosing those cultural artifacts.
Vinyl Record Fair Brings Music, Art and Food to Rio this Sunday: This Sunday, September 10th, the Casa da Polônia (Poland’s House), in Cosme Velho, hosts the “Gira Música” (Spins Music), a culinary and music fair specially dedicated to the vinyl disc culture. From 12PM to 8PM, the fair will promote activities like music recording, a DJ workshop and a talk on copyright. Besides the LP disc stalls, “Gira Música” will bring workshops, food trucks and over ten DJs to Casa da Polônia this Sunday, September 10th, photo internet recreation. “Gira Música” was created by Gira Brazil, a movement led by DJs and LP’s collectors that aims to rescue the vinyl culture and redeem the Brazilian music. According to André Costenplatte, one of Gira Brazil’s founders, “Gira Música” was born as a response to the growing consumption of LP disc across the world.
Vinyl music renaissance in China: Vinyl music is enjoying a renaissance worldwide. And China is no exception. Chen Yingming is a vinyl music enthusiastic in south China’s Guangzhou City, where he has been running a music store for over two decades. Lifestyles talked to him about his love for vinyl music. Chen’s music store makes tapes and CDs, and most recently, vinyl records. “My son asked me to buy him a turntable when he was 18 years old. I asked him how he leant about this old format, as he should not had seen an LP before. He told me that it had become a trend in the west and you could buy a lot of good vinyl records on the internet. So I wondered why is vinyl back?”
The Music Diaries | Significant Chinese Contribution To Early Jamaican Popular Music: …The late Vincent ‘Randy’ Chin, another Jamaican-Chinese producer, took unto himself legendary status when he established VP Records. His early career saw him operating his Randy’s Record Store and Recording Studios at North Parade in Kingston. Randy’s productions helped to guide the careers of Alton Ellis with the doo-wop songs, My Love Divine and Let Me Dream; Stranger Cole and Ken Boothe with their original version of Home Home, and John Holt with Rum Bumper. Lord Creator also recorded for Randy’s Studio 17 – Independent Jamaica, Don’t Stay Out Late and Man To Man; while Toots and the Maytals had John and James and Lost Penny.
Old Records Never Die: One Man’s Quest for His Vinyl and His Past by Eric Spitznagel: Eric Spitznagel got it into his head one day that life just wouldn’t be the same unless he could recover his lost record collection. We’re not talking about just any old piece of vinyl; he wanted the actual record that was in HIS collection, the ones he shared with friends, the ones he sold, the ones he stashed his weed in. His quest takes him on a journey through many a used record store, basement sale and out-of-town record expo. But this isn’t just a physical journey, it’s also a spiritual one, as Eric recalls the magical moments of the past that reside in his soul and are connected to each piece of music he hunts for.
The Big Read: The world of rare collectables: Rare vinyl can sell for tens of thousands of dollars, to collectors obsessed with owning every release from a particular artist, genre or label. But don’t get too excited about selling your dad’s early copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – there’s a fine line between trash and treasure in this game. Even Garry Knight, manager of Christchurch’s Penny Lane Records and involved in music retail since 1981, says it is usually impossible to pick. “Over the years we would have had incredibly collectible records but at the time wouldn’t have thought anything of it, just thought ‘that’s a really nice piece’ but then just sell it over the counter. In hindsight, some of these records would be worth thousands of dollars today.”
The Unexpected Pleasure of the Vinyl Record: I am sitting listening to Styx sing Come Sail Away on vinyl. This is not a great song and if you are under the age of fifty and listen to it, you will (at best) smile, shudder at the electronic bridge, and mentally scream when angels take us away in their starship. Yet there was a time when this was my anthem, my challenge to life, at least the part that said: “I will try, Lord, I will try, to carry on.” As a result, I have heard it in many mediums, but today found an old vinyl record and listened. It was better that way.
